LIMPIAR EL RACK

In the words of Elton John...I'm still standing, yeah, yeah, yeah.

First things first: Midterms. They weren't too bad. Except for one. But hey, 3/4 ain't bad right? Hopefully I'll get back the Midterm I think I butchered tomorrow, so that class should be interesting. I should also get my longest paper ever written in Spanish back tomorrow as well I hope (6 pages!) I have to say though, I've never had a week like that back in Hobart. In fact, I think the only time I've ever had a midterm is with the prof. that is here with us now. Every other time I have had a "midterm" I think, it's just been like a normal chapter test, it was just in the middle of the semester kind of. But here, I had four tests all in the same week, and they were all cumulative, so that was a bit different. But I'm still standing.

Next we go on to Barcelona. I went out on Thursday night and stayed up all night in order to catch the bus that was leaving at 6 am. It actually made a lot of sense, because otherwise I would've had to catch a taxi from my house all the way to the University ( I think I live the furthest away from there as anyone) so that would've cost a lot. So instead I went out and walked there with my buddy Harry.

I figured hey, I should be able to sleep most of all the bus ride right? WRONG. I slept casi 3 1/2 hours. That bus was the most uncomfortable bus I have ever been on. The bus to Salamanca, during our first week here, was horrendous as well. Would it kill them to make an at least semi comfortable bus? Not only was there no leg room or body room, but the engine heated up the bus to unbearable temperaturas. Absolutely miserable.

So by the time we got to Barcelona, after that 8 hour ride, I was not too happy. We really didn't do anything that great. Went and saw some interesting architecture by Gaudi - check him out, looks like the dude invented the house that Dr. Seuss would like to live in. Kinda interesting. I really just relaxed a lot in Barcelona. Also, the water there sucks. Madrid water is amazing, Barcelona water is poop.

Also for those of you who know of my bilingualness....I have become even more multi-bilingual! I am now fluent in Catalan, which is the official language of catalunya. It's a mix of Spanish and French and I'm super fluent at it. More so reading than anything else, my speaking of it is a little rusty, but with time, I'll get it.

What else about Barcelona.....hmmmmm.......well, it is not as cool as Madrid. I just wasn't feeling it there. I think the bus ride had a lot to do with it. But hey, I'm still standing.

NEXT, we go on to Rugby. Two of my friends I've met out in Madrid (Alberto or more commonly known as Luque and Victor) asked me to come play Rugby for their team. They play for their university I think, which is the next metro stop down from mine. So I don't wanna brag or anything, but we started out doing one on one tackling drills, and I destroyed a few kids lives. I think their team is pretty piss-poor though so that's not saying much. But I was pretty happy with my performance.

I still don't know any of the rules, and they were speaking to me at about 100 mph in Spanish, so I was a little bit hazy, but I know a lot of pushing of people was involved in my job description. Also, at one point we practiced lifting up a dude to catch the ball when they throw it in from the sidelines, and me and my buddy, Victor, absolutely dominated. The coach guy even said we did it perfect on our second try. The dude we lifted up intercepted the ball from the other team even! Which I think is a good thing?

But anyways, I'm learning the sport and it's pretty fun. I think I did a pretty good job, they were excited to have me there and asked me to come back. They usually practice on Tuesday's and Thursdays, but I have class during practice time on Thursday so I can't go. But my body only hurts a little bit so that's good.

So hopefully next update, I can talk some more Rugby, maybe another thing or two about Barcelona, and then some things about Milk, Bathrooms, Cereal and Light switches.

So after all that, I'm still standing! Until then people, keep it real.